Canucks looking for grit

Raymond is going to hear his name mentioned a lot because he’s probably the easiest forward to move.

A team may see in him a similar case to Michael Grabner’s, who bloomed when given a different role than the one he had with the top-heavy Canucks.

What the Canucks need is someone like Travis Moen.

Moen, who will turn 30 when the playoffs begin, is having his best year offensively, two goals off the career-high 11 he scored for Anaheim five years ago.

He’s 6-foot-2, 215 pounds, is gritty, can fight when he has to, has a cap hit of $1.5 million and is an unrestricted free agent at season’s end.

Montreal doesn’t look to be going anywhere; it’s just a matter of how much a team would be willing to give up for Moen.

And speaking of big forwards who can put the puck in the net, you think Dave Nonis ever asks himself why he took Patrick White and Taylor Ellington 25th and 33rd in the 2007 draft, when Victoria native Jamie Benn, an all-star this weekend, was sitting there until the 129th pick?

On the Canucks’ back end, there’s been speculation Adrian Aucoin could be an insurance defence-man.